Vivite, valete, et mementote nostrûm.
Yours, affectionately,
W. C.
TO THE REV. WILLIAM UNWIN.
Olney, July 12, 1784.
My dear William,—I think with you that Vinny's[245] line is not pure. If he knew any authority that would have justified his substitution of a participle for a substantive, he would have done well to have noted it in the margin; but I am much inclined to think that he did not. Poets are sometimes exposed to difficulties insurmountable by lawful means, whence I imagine was originally derived that indulgence that allows them the use of what is called the poetica licentia. But that liberty, I believe, contents itself with the abbreviation or protraction of a word, or an alteration in the quantity of a syllable, and never presumes to trespass upon grammatical propriety. I have dared to attempt to correct my master, but am not bold enough to say that I have succeeded. Neither am I sure that my memory serves me correctly with the line that follows; but when I recollect the English, am persuaded that it cannot differ much from the true one. This therefore is my edition of the passage—
Basia amatori tot tum permissa beato;
Or,
Basia quæ juveni indulsit Susanna beato
Navarcha optaret maximus esse sua.
The preceding lines I have utterly forgotten, and am consequently at a loss to know whether the distich, thus managed, will connect itself with them easily and as it ought.